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I love that buffalo got caught red handed. At least the others try to hide it a little better.

Sorry to rain on the parade, but if you had actually read a few of the threads in those forums, you would have seen that BuffaloBoy has received extremely frigid treatment there precisely for asking the kind of questions that make dissidents very uncomfortable and for, not to put too fine a point on it, not being a dissident. His having taken atripla in the recent past ought to suggest that as well.

Don't we have enough to deal with, having HIV, without initiating witch-hunts on each other?

We have enough to deal with without you taking on the role of moral arbiter.

It's helpful for you to point out the nuances of Buffaloboy's posts but is it too much to ask for you to keep your judgments of others to yourself?

The comments made by me and by Hellraiser hardly qualify as "witch hunts." I (and I believe Hellrasier as well) have been very helpful to Buffaloboy when he's been on here asking for advice (advice about taking ARVs that he is so reluctant to take that it's easy to come to the conclusion that he could be a denialist).

Sorry, but for this to be more like a witch hunt there would have had to be a torch-light procession.

First RJNYC raises the spectre of "subtle infiltration". Then he dredges up something BB wrote in another forum more than a year ago, and a whole crowd examines the evidence and tries to see it in context simply jumps on the bandwagon assuming BB to be guilty without, apparently, even glancing at the evidence at all.

Apparently nobody remembers that six months after writing the supposedly incriminating posts at questioningaids, BB took the not very denialist-like step of going on atripla.

Since then he's been vilified and attacked there again and again for asking tough questions and departing from the denialist party line, so it was a little too much for me to see him attacked here simply for being there.

As for "judgements of others", please--there are members here who write more scathing attacks on others twenty times a day.

The comments made by me and by Hellraiser hardly qualify as "witch hunts."

Sorry, but saying that someone has a "hidden agenda", or that you're glad he got "caught red-handed" qualifies. Even more so does that next little charming bit:

Quote

at least the others try to hide it a bit better

The others? So we are all supposed to wonder who these mysterious other secret denialists are whom HR suspects of lurking in our midst? That goes beyond "witch-hunt"--it's the kind of thing that appeared in Pravda whenever a fresh purge was being planned.

I (and I believe Hellrasier as well) have been very helpful to Buffaloboy when he's been on here asking for advice

Yes, you were in fact very helpful, as you often are, when he asked for advice about various meds. --http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=30579.0--but it's hard to see much evidence of a "hidden agenda" behind that thread!

.... ARVs that he is so reluctant to take that it's easy to come to the conclusion that he could be a denialist).

Or it could be that he had a traumatic experience with atripla and as the saying goes, once bitten twice shy. And no, to assume that everyone who's afraid of side-effects and reluctant to start HAART is a denialst is not "easy"--it's paranoid, and it's about as witch-hunt like as you can get.

"I have tried hard--but life is difficult, and I am a very useless person. I can hardly be said to have an independent existence. I was just a screw or a cog in the great machine I called life, and when I dropped out of it I found I was of no use anywhere else."

Don't we have enough to deal with, having HIV, without initiating witch-hunts on each other?

NO, we don't have enough to do. There is a long tradition of HIV care in this country of sorting out those who deny the efficacy of therapy, and those that would deny the impact of HIV on our society. Along with that, the money flow from Washington, to do preventative work, along with HIV services is a limited fund. Add to that those who would masquerade as sincere, to get some of those dollars; creates a need to remain vigilant in our attempt to keep the work pure and honest. The last 8 years have done enough to damage our care and access to it, and it is even more important to squash people who are here to do us harm by the dissemination of falsehoods and lies. So, I hope you now understand why we in this country are always on the lookout for those that would steal our line of support, just to gather up as much money as possible under fraudulent purposes. Those that do these things, have a whole passel of people around them, some conscious of what they are doing and others not so much. But in the end, prosperity off the backs of those who are considered vermin in our country, is a goal of those who worship money and what it can get them.

Right now, there are more and more people being placed on waiting lists for medications, as the States steal, borrow and misappropriate millions of dollars meant for buying medications for all of us who happen to be unable to get health insurance.

If you would suggest we sit on our hands and not advocate for life and truth in this great sick country; then you simply are out of touch, and if you think for one minute that your infantile admonishments are going to keep me from voicing my alerts, and opinions about those who are in HIV only to reap the dollar benefits; you would be VERY mistaken.

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The Bible contains 6 admonishments to homosexuals,and 362 to heterosexuals.This doesn't mean that God doesn't love heterosexuals, It's just that they need more supervision.Lynn Lavne

I specifically didn't name the people who I suspect have a denialist agenda because someone got warned in a previous thread for doing the very same thing. I'm not trying to cast aspersions but when half or more of someone's post history is "I'm questioning meds because" and they proceed to go on about everything while their numbers continue to decline I become somewhat suspicious. Anyway, that's why I phrased it that way.

Nestor, I don't know where on the planet you hail from, but you are severely lacking in a historical perspective on U.S. delivery of HIV services.

NO, we don't have enough to do. There is a long tradition of HIV care in this country of sorting out those who deny the efficacy of therapy, and those that would deny the impact of HIV on our society. Along with that, the money flow from Washington, to do preventative work, along with HIV services is a limited fund. Add to that those who would masquerade as sincere, to get some of those dollars; creates a need to remain vigilant in our attempt to keep the work pure and honest. The last 8 years have done enough to damage our care and access to it, and it is even more important to squash people who are here to do us harm by the dissemination of falsehoods and lies. So, I hope you now understand why we in this country are always on the lookout for those that would steal our line of support, just to gather up as much money as possible under fraudulent purposes. Those that do these things, have a whole passel of people around them, some conscious of what they are doing and others not so much. But in the end, prosperity off the backs of those who are considered vermin in our country, is a goal of those who worship money and what it can get them.

Right now, there are more and more people being placed on waiting lists for medications, as the States steal, borrow and misappropriate millions of dollars meant for buying medications for all of us who happen to be unable to get health insurance.

If you would suggest we sit on our hands and not advocate for life and truth in this great sick country; then you simply are out of touch, and if you think for one minute that your infantile admonishments are going to keep me from voicing my alerts, and opinions about those who are in HIV only to reap the dollar benefits; you would be VERY mistaken.

I'm confused--where did I suggest we not advocate for life and truth? I merely suggested we not gang up on and attack buffaloboy. Are you saying that he is "in HIV only to reap the dollar benefits"?

If anyone is wondering why I go on about these things, it's because they kill this forum, which can be, and often is, an invaluable source of information and support for all of us who need it, but which then often gets dragged down into bickering and acrimony and the snarky one-liners that pass for humor in certain quarters. That's bad enough; we don't need to add paranoia to the brew, and when I see six or seven people attack a fellow forum member as a "subtle infiltrator" with a "hidden agenda", I know what's going on and I'm going to say it. If you find that infantile, too bad.

For the record when I described Buffaloboy as having a "hidden agenda," this is what I meant:

None of his threads made sense to me. I can understand that a person could become a little apprehensive about re-starting meds after having had a bad experience, which is a great reason to come to these threads, in order to hear others' stories and get some moral support. The fact is that many people have an initial bad experience, especially with Atripla (and especially after starting with numbers in the danger zone, which can exacerbate side effects for many). That does not warrant wholesale rejection of the life saving benefits of ARV medications; it's the proverbial throwing the baby out with the bath water.

On a gut level something about him just did not add up for me, which is why I stopped responding to his threads. To later learn that he frequents denialist forums made it all add up, all of a sudden the faulty logic and the obstinance he displayed made sense (hence the "hidden agenda").

He lives in the UK, where he has access to wonderful and free healthcare. It's just sad. And despite what you may think, Nestor, it's not a witch hunt or any form of attack. You should dial it down on the drama, sheesh.

I have been HIV+ for 27 years.I have been an HIV activist for 31.I have been a member of this board for six years.If by chance you would like to make everything I say into a confrontation; fine. Your call.If you would like to take over and eschew all of us who's patience with bullshit is really coming to a boil, then so be it.

Please take over. Your shit is stinking pretty much right now and doesn't leave much room for those of us who have something of benifit for those of you who are new to this, but the litteral bullshit coming from people like you who don't have qualifications to doubt us, is really a bit too much for this tired 63 year old to deal with anymore. Take over PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(BUT DO YOUR HOMEWORK ON THE PLAGUE, BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT RIGHT ALL THE TIME!)Screw it all. I'm done. Guess you will like not being called out by me anymore.

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The Bible contains 6 admonishments to homosexuals,and 362 to heterosexuals.This doesn't mean that God doesn't love heterosexuals, It's just that they need more supervision.Lynn Lavne

If anyone is wondering why I go on about these things, it's because they kill this forum

Honey, believe me, no one is wondering about why you go on about these things. You're not the first to predict the forums demise. Fortunately or unfortunately, I guess it depends on how you look at it, with each new infection it will continue to thrive.